


Dire

by Rayj4ck



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/F, Inspired By Tumblr, One Shot, Rose and Juleka's relationship is not a major point, but I want you to know it's there.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25584019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rayj4ck/pseuds/Rayj4ck
Summary: Juleka and the rest of the Gang get news that changes their world as they know it.
Relationships: Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant
Comments: 2
Kudos: 109





	Dire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SorryJustAnotherPerson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SorryJustAnotherPerson/gifts).
  * Inspired by [There’s More Magic Out There](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25024126) by [SorryJustAnotherPerson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SorryJustAnotherPerson/pseuds/SorryJustAnotherPerson). 



> SorryJustAnotherPerson asked for angst prompts on their Tumblr, and I submitted one, but it just kinda stuck in my head until this happened. Go read "There's more magic out there" for this to make the most sense.

The first warning sign was when Juleka checked the P.O. box on Thursday, and it was empty. She narrowed her eyes in confusion at the space, looking all around as if it were taped to the top of the small area. This wasn’t right. One of the few upsides to the bureaucracy her mother so passionately hated was that things like this were always on time. Blood packs on Tuesday and Thursday. Shutting and locking the box, she walked over to the desk, where a bored-looking clerk was on his phone. “Has all the mail for today been put in the P.O. boxes?”

“Yep.” He blew a bubble on the gum he was apparently chewing, not even looking up from his phone. 

“And there’s nothing for box 213?”

“Nope.”

Juleka couldn’t help but be a little ticked off at his attitude. “ _I suggest you check again.”_ Her voice was layered with a thousand barely audible whispers. 

The clerk groaned, but slid the phone back into his pocket and walked deeper into the building. Juleka waited, tapping her foot as a small kernel of worry crystallized in her chest. A few minutes passed tersely, and when the clerk returned, her heart sank to see he was empty handed. “Nothin’ else.” he deadpanned at her. 

“Oh. Thanks for checking.” She autopiloted to polite-mode, as she turned and left the building in a daze, the kernel in her chest beginning to bloom.

* * *

The second warning was actually much less substantial. It was only her instincts really. It was a day like any other in Paris, but Juleka couldn’t shake a feeling in her gut that something was wrong. Something about the whole world had shifted. She tried to rationalize it away, saying it was just the bloodbags not coming in. She had a few saved up, she’d be fine until Tuesday. And things didn’t always run smoothly in the government, they may just be a day or two late. 

She wished she could use her suggestion power on herself. 

* * *

_NeverSkipLegDay: Meet at Alya’s ASAP_

Juleka looked down at the message again, now thoroughly worried. She had only been friends with Chloe for a month or two, but she had never gotten a message so...dire. 

She had only gotten through two knocks on the door before it was thrown open violently. Alya was on the other side, standing behind a frantic looking Chloe. Juleka had never seen her like this. Even after she became less of a...well, a bitch, she always maintained her Capital P-Perfect appearance. Never a hair out of place. But now, she was anything but. Dressed in a mismatched outfit, hair in a wild bun, it was the Chloe equivalent of just rolling out of bed. 

“Juleka! Jesus, are you Ok? What took you so long?” Chloe grabbed her shoulders in a grip that would crush anyone else’s clavicle, and...started checking her over for wounds?

“I, I uh walked? What is going on Chloe?” Juleka grabbed Chloe’s shoulders back, getting the blonde to look at her. 

“You had better come in.” Juleka looked over her shoulder to Alya, who nodded and motioned her in. Crossing the threshold, Chloe practically dragged Juleka to the living room, where the rest of the gang sat looking just as confused and worried as she felt. 

“Alright, we’re all here.” Alix threw the pillow she had been slowly picking the lint off of across the couch, where Aurora caught it. “What is up Chloe? Why are we all here?”

Chloe stood in front of them like she was about to present to the class. “You know sometimes I think Father forgets how good my hearing is.” She let out a laugh, but it was dark and lacked humor. 

“Chloe...”

“He got a call. From the Prime Minister.” Chloe’s voice was uncharacteristically shaky. “They said that...that the French government was going to be taking a new approach to supernatural creatures.” _Oh no..._ “A more...violent approach.” Chloe’s voice had dropped to just above a whisper. “Father didn’t say no.”

* * *

“I’m sorry.” Juleka said automatically as she put her fingers just above Alya’s wrist. 

“Don’t worry ‘bout it girl.” Alya replied quietly, same as always. She knew it didn’t really make Juleka feel any better. 

The Couffaines had been broken up. When Anarka heard the news, she spat a truly legendary string of curse words, then decided to take the boat and run, drawing attention away while Juleka and Luka stayed behind in Paris. Juleka wasn’t sure when she would see her mother again. 

Luka was staying at Alix’s museum, in a spare cot in the storeroom where there was a convenient gap in the security cameras. It seemed hideously boring to her, but she imagined the emptiness was great for playing his guitar and practicing his spells. She had to look at the silver linings where she could.

She was staying with Alya. For a while it hadn’t been that bad, she could almost pretend it was an extended sleepover. But then her...dietary needs began to make themselves known, and without the government providing bloodbags anymore, there was only one option.

Juleka knew vampires in fiction were not accurate to vampires in reality, but she couldn’t help but be disappointed about this part being wrong. Every book that ever had a vampire try blood from a fresh, living person after taking it from a bag talked about the euphoria of it. How much better it was, how they may never be able to go back. 

Juleka didn’t feel that. The only thing she could feel as she carefully pierced the veins on one of her closest friend’s wrist with her fangs was revulsion. She drank carefully, slowly. She could feel Ayla desperately trying to hold back her winces, and it only made the sick feeling in her stomach grow. The taste was at least ok, but she wasn’t sure if that helped all that much. Eventually she finished, grabbing a bandaid and sticking it over the wound. It didn’t really matter, the holes would be closed without a mark in under and hour, but seeing them made Juleka ill. Alya grabbed a lollipop out of a bowl nearby and stuck in in her mouth, but the blood donation jokes had dried up a while ago, and all she could manage now was a weak smile. Juleka returned it, and Alya shifted her weight and leaned up against her on the couch. They sat there for a while, the weight of the other against them the only thin support against the crushing weight of feeling caged. Alya hadn’t been outside in her fox form in a long time, and Juleka could only imagine how that weighed on the wild part of her mind. 

As for herself, Juleka hadn’t left the Cesaire house in four weeks. She was a known vampire, being seen by anyone was dangerous. Ms. Bustier had been surprisingly receptive to Juleka’s extended time away from classes, saying only that she understood, and “A lot was happening right now.” 

She could only hope Chloe was doing ok, she didn’t know what had happened to the others beside her brother, but Chloe was in pretty much the worst spot possible. Juleka didn’t trust the mayor to make the right decision, but there was nothing she could do about it.

She realized she was feeling a steady pattern under her hand. Looking down, Alya had fallen asleep, her stomach rising and falling rhythmically against her palm. Juleka felt a soft smile tug her lips, a real one, as she gently lifted Alya and carried her to the bed in her room. Sitting down next to it, looking up at the (thankfully not full) moon hanging bright in the sky, she began her ritual of trying her best to remember Rose’s face. 

It was getting harder every night. 


End file.
